nathanielfirst
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probably not, huh?
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physical afterlife?
- Thread starter nathanielfirst
- Start date
Satans_Serrated_Edge
Deicidal
.....
arthra
Baha'i
If you mean that our physical body has anything or much to do with the next life..it does not in our view. The soul and it's spiritual nature is what survives and it is associated with the body in this life and serves as a vehicle of experience in this life..
After physical death the elements return from whence they came..
Baha'is believe however that since the body was a temporary host for the soul it should be treated with dignity and so we do not believe in cremation or embalming.. the body is washed and wrapped in silk or other valuable material and is placed in the casket..
For example, this elemental human body hath come forth from the mineral, the vegetable and the animal worlds, and after its death will be entirely changed into microscopic animal organisms; and according to the divine order and the driving forces of nature, these minute creatures will have an effect on the life of the universe, and will pass into other forms.
Now, if you consign this body to the flames, it will pass immediately into the mineral kingdom and will be kept back from its natural journey through the chain of all created things.
The elemental body, following death, and its release from its composite life, will be transformed into separate components and minuscule animals; and even though it will now be deprived of its composite life in human form, still the animal life is in it, and it is not entirely bereft of life. If, however, it be burned, it will turn into ashes and minerals, and once it has become mineral, it must inexorably journey onward to the vegetable kingdom, so that it may rise to the animal world. That is what is described as an overleap.
In short, the composition and decomposition, the gathering and scattering and journeying of all creatures must proceed according to the natural order, divine rule and the most great law of God, so that no marring nor impairment may affect the essential relationships which arise out of the inner realities of created things. This is why,according to the law of God, we are bidden to bury the dead.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Wisdom of Burying the Dead)
After physical death the elements return from whence they came..
Baha'is believe however that since the body was a temporary host for the soul it should be treated with dignity and so we do not believe in cremation or embalming.. the body is washed and wrapped in silk or other valuable material and is placed in the casket..
For example, this elemental human body hath come forth from the mineral, the vegetable and the animal worlds, and after its death will be entirely changed into microscopic animal organisms; and according to the divine order and the driving forces of nature, these minute creatures will have an effect on the life of the universe, and will pass into other forms.
Now, if you consign this body to the flames, it will pass immediately into the mineral kingdom and will be kept back from its natural journey through the chain of all created things.
The elemental body, following death, and its release from its composite life, will be transformed into separate components and minuscule animals; and even though it will now be deprived of its composite life in human form, still the animal life is in it, and it is not entirely bereft of life. If, however, it be burned, it will turn into ashes and minerals, and once it has become mineral, it must inexorably journey onward to the vegetable kingdom, so that it may rise to the animal world. That is what is described as an overleap.
In short, the composition and decomposition, the gathering and scattering and journeying of all creatures must proceed according to the natural order, divine rule and the most great law of God, so that no marring nor impairment may affect the essential relationships which arise out of the inner realities of created things. This is why,according to the law of God, we are bidden to bury the dead.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Wisdom of Burying the Dead)
Smokeless Indica
<3 Damian Edward Nixon <3
No one knows for sure. I think we become part of the Earth
arthra
Baha'i
Yes the material elements return or pass through stages as Abdul-Baha mentioned above.. I think it's fascinating though to consider that some of our frame originally came from stellar material..from the stars.. The soul as I've mentioned in another thread here ascends to the spiritual worlds of God in our belief.
Smokeless Indica
<3 Damian Edward Nixon <3
What happens when you don't believe in any Gods?
arthra
Baha'i
Belief in gods is kind of a separate topic .. We have no guidance per se about what will happen to polytheists in the after life.. If they strive to acquire spiritual attributes their condition in the next life should be closer to God..and in His mercy they can be raised to higher spiritual planes.
Baha'is believe God is one so for us a belief in gods is not part of our religion but we do accept that in the ancient past many of the religions who some today consider were say polytheistic were actually preceded by an ancient monotheism.. and that in time the original teachings were lost. Another way to see it is that people in the past had an interest in say fertility so they felt by evoking a god for that purpose it served their needs.. just as say a group of hunters would evoke say a supernatural entity to help them in the hunt and so on..so in time these needs translated into a variety of gods that served various functions for people.. thus the original or earlier monotheism was in time forgotten.. also priests began to have a vested interest in perpetuating a form of worship..so that's how I see it.
Baha'is believe God is one so for us a belief in gods is not part of our religion but we do accept that in the ancient past many of the religions who some today consider were say polytheistic were actually preceded by an ancient monotheism.. and that in time the original teachings were lost. Another way to see it is that people in the past had an interest in say fertility so they felt by evoking a god for that purpose it served their needs.. just as say a group of hunters would evoke say a supernatural entity to help them in the hunt and so on..so in time these needs translated into a variety of gods that served various functions for people.. thus the original or earlier monotheism was in time forgotten.. also priests began to have a vested interest in perpetuating a form of worship..so that's how I see it.
Smokeless Indica
<3 Damian Edward Nixon <3
Do you think that if someone who doesn't believe in God(s) but they live their life with good morals they can be accepted into the afterlife?
arthra
Baha'i
We believe there is an after life anyway whether you believe or not... Also God in our view is an Unknowable Essence..
All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite. Surely the infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater than the accidental.
Therefore consider: All the sects and peoples worship their own thought; they create a god in their own minds and acknowledge him to be the creator of all things, when that form is a superstition -- thus people adore and worship imagination.
That Essence of the Divine Entity and the Unseen of the unseen is holy above imagination and is beyond thought. Consciousness doth not reach It. Within the capacity of comprehension of a produced reality that Ancient Reality cannot be contained. It is a different world; from it there is no information; arrival thereat is impossible; attainment thereto is prohibited and inaccessible. This much is known: It exists and Its existence is certain and proven -- but the condition is unknown.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 381)
So if you reject a god that is the product of your own imagination..that's not a bad thing at all..
What is important though in this day in our belief is recognizing the Manifestaion Bahja'u'llah for this day.. and it is only through the Messenger that we can even strive to know God's attributes..
alone and unassisted we cannot truly know God ourselves.
All the divine Manifestations have proclaimed the oneness of God and the unity of mankind. They have taught that men should love and mutually help each other in order that they might progress. Now if this conception of religion be true, its essential principle is the oneness of humanity. The fundamental truth of the Manifestations is peace. This underlies all religion, all justice. The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord and agreement and should love one another.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 245)
All the people have formed a god in the world of thought, and that form of their own imagination they worship; when the fact is that the imagined form is finite and the human mind is infinite. Surely the infinite is greater than the finite, for imagination is accidental while the mind is essential; surely the essential is greater than the accidental.
Therefore consider: All the sects and peoples worship their own thought; they create a god in their own minds and acknowledge him to be the creator of all things, when that form is a superstition -- thus people adore and worship imagination.
That Essence of the Divine Entity and the Unseen of the unseen is holy above imagination and is beyond thought. Consciousness doth not reach It. Within the capacity of comprehension of a produced reality that Ancient Reality cannot be contained. It is a different world; from it there is no information; arrival thereat is impossible; attainment thereto is prohibited and inaccessible. This much is known: It exists and Its existence is certain and proven -- but the condition is unknown.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 381)
So if you reject a god that is the product of your own imagination..that's not a bad thing at all..
What is important though in this day in our belief is recognizing the Manifestaion Bahja'u'llah for this day.. and it is only through the Messenger that we can even strive to know God's attributes..
alone and unassisted we cannot truly know God ourselves.
All the divine Manifestations have proclaimed the oneness of God and the unity of mankind. They have taught that men should love and mutually help each other in order that they might progress. Now if this conception of religion be true, its essential principle is the oneness of humanity. The fundamental truth of the Manifestations is peace. This underlies all religion, all justice. The divine purpose is that men should live in unity, concord and agreement and should love one another.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 245)